CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS; Assessing an Obama Move

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: June 24, 2008

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of John Edwards, the former presidential candidate, on Monday questioned whether Senator Barack Obama should have opted out of the public campaign financing system, but she stopped short of saying that he should not have done so.

Mrs. Edwards said that she thought voters did not care about the money but that they would care if he appeared to have said one thing earlier and was saying something else now (as Mr. Obama had done). She then quickly noted that Senator John McCain was in no position to question any change of heart by Mr. Obama because he himself had switched positions on several issues.

Mrs. Edwards discussed Mr. Obama's decision in response to a question by video hookup from her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., to a conference in New York focused on how the Internet is changing politics. She had been scheduled to speak in person, but her flights were canceled because of bad weather.

She spoke for an hour from a couch in her living room as her image was projected on a large screen in front of 1,000 people at the conference, which was sponsored by the Personal Democracy Forum.

Mrs. Edwards had not endorsed Mr. Obama, but now, she said, she is part of his health care committee, and she said she would press her goal of universal health care.

Toward the end of the interview, her husband wandered into view, seemingly surprised to find his wife being interviewed. Asked how the Internet would affect the presidential campaign, Mr. Edwards said that it was the ''only reason'' Mr. Obama opted out of public financing, because it gave him access to a vast grass-roots donor base.